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Calm Guinea-Bissau votes to replace slain leader

Guinea-Bissau's voters cast ballots in a quiet and orderly election on Sunday to replace the slain president of the West African state, hoping for a chance to end turmoil worsened by army rivalries and drug gangs, Reuters reported.

President Joao Bernardo Vieira was shot dead by soldiers in March in apparent revenge for the killing of the head of the army. Eleven candidates are standing on Sunday. One top contender was killed during the election campaign.

There were no immediate reports of trouble from across the former Portuguese colony of 1.6 million people, although heavy rains discouraged voters in some parts of the swampy country.

"This is a great day. I'm voting for peace, calm and stability," said trader Binta Diallo in Bissau, the run-down coastal capital. "I want a president able to bring peace and quiet and to end the criminality."

The vote is also a test for a region worried at the retreat of democracy after coups in Guinea and Mauritania and a deepening political crisis in Niger.

"The vote took place in a calm and orderly way," said Johan Van Ecke, head of the European Union observer mission. "We can celebrate elections that were well prepared and organised despite the rain."

Turnout appeared to be less than it had been for last year's parliamentary election, he said.

Whoever wins faces the challenge of pulling the state back from failure and reforming security forces that are little more than rival militias.

"The military has been far too dominant in Bissau-Guinean politics to date, so there is a real need for the international community to offer support for capacity building," said Kissy Agyeman-Togobo of IHS Global Insight.